Let’s take a walk down the block.

Today we’re on Walnut Avenue in the Parkside area of Jamaica Plain. It’s full of large, colorful multi-family houses, many of which are decorated for Halloween.

We stop in front of Dorothy Fennell’s home, which is made up into a graveyard full of skeletons, tombstones and “Wizard of Oz”–style apple trees.

“If I say where I live, they’re like, ‘You’re the Halloween house,’” Fennell said. “My husband gets really into Halloween, and I see it as his contribution to community building.”

Tonight, Fennell’s street will come alive. She and her neighbors close off a section of their street to slow things down and allow families and their children to enjoy Halloween safely.

It’s one of 40 parties and fall events the city of Boston is funding as part of its Spooky Streets Grant program.

“I wanted to make sure that they could continue to come and depend on that walkability and safety for kids and families for one evening of the year,” Fennell said.

Fennell received a $250 Spooky Streets grant from the city, part of $10,000 in funding for fall fun, to help put on this event. She used it to pay for supplies like pumpkins and candy. She also had to apply for a permit to shut the street down.

Permitting can be a complicated and confusing process, but Nathalia Benitez-Perez, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Civic Organizing, said the city is trying to streamline it.

“Before, you would have to get additional permits if you just wanted to do a potluck-style [block party], where neighbors had to bring food outside,” she said. “And this just seemed like a lot, so we are trying to make sure we are working towards relaxing some of those permits.”

Besides the paperwork, throwing an event on your block takes time, money, and community input — not to mention that some blocks have different safety concerns than others.

In addition to the grant, the city offers a step-by-step guide on how to navigate the logistics.

Benitez-Perez said her office wanted to incentivize community members getting to know one another.

That’s playing out in Fennell’s neighborhood.

Back on her block, we passed a neighbor named Tim Klein, who was biking his two children up to nearby Franklin Park. He said he just moved here and is looking forward to tonight’s festivities.

“We have two kids here, 5 and 8,” he said. “You can feel the community in the neighborhood. And we wanted to be part of that.”

Fennell said she expects some people from nearby neighborhoods to come enjoy the festivities too, and hopes that this event can give the kids something special to remember.

“I think that’s cool, knowing that we can be the memory-makers,” Fennell said. “For these kids to think back to, like, what made their block so special or even what made that place that their parents took them to special. Another thing I’m advocating for is that kids have that in their communities, on their own blocks.”

And by supporting block parties and other events, Fennell says the city is investing in its greatest assets: Its streets and the residents who call them home.